Marmalade

This time of year is when the Seville Oranges are in season. When I was recently in the local supermarket I noticed a few bags of Seville oranges in a bin. They are here for a short season and these were good quality oranges, so I purchased two bags (5 KG) on the spot.

Of course, I then realized that our jam pan will only cope with 3 KG of fruit at a time, so this meant two days of labour. Rosie was not too keen about so many oranges, but her love of good marmalade got the better of her. So home we went - we need sugar - another trip out to get some - no butter muslin for the pips - raid the fabric basket and , ah, we have one piece, just big enough.

Rosie controls the pan and its contents and I shred the peel by hand. I like mundane and repetitive jobs occasionally. Day one took nearly 2 hour to shred half of the orange peel. The peal, water juice and pips were cooked for 2 hours and then the sugar and juice of a lemon were added. After 25 minutes at a rolling boil the marmalade was ready for potting. Out came the bag of pips.

Fortunately, Rosie had thought to wash a load of jars and lids, which had been sterilized in the oven. A quick couple of scoops in each jar and the stuff was ready to cool.

We were listening to the popping of the lids all evening. It is ages since we have made marmalade and each time the process seems to get easier and more efficient.
Yesterday we did the second batch and the peel shredding only took an hour. We now have enough marmalade to last the whole year. The sample tester was used today for breakfast with the bread I baked yesterday. Breakfast is always best when it is the rewards of your own efforts.